History of Grodno Gubernia

picture courtesy of Tomek Wisniewski, Bialystok, Poland

Originally in Lithuania/Litwa/Litva/Lita, Grodno guberniya was
part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, connected with Poland, and
then annexed by Russia. The first mention of Lita occurs in the fifteenth
century responsum of Israel Isserlein who refers to "Tobiah" who had returned
from Gordita (Grodno) in Lithuania and said, "It is rare with our people
from Germany to go to Lithuania." (Israel Bruna, Responsa, **25, 73).

Grodno, one of the oldest cities in former Lithuania, began
as a village founded by a Russian price. The village is first mentioned
in the Chronicles of 1128. Lida was founded at the same time as Vilna,
about 1320. These cities had no Magdeburg Rights or gilds. However, following
the death of Gedimin in 1341, his grandson Witold ascended to the throne.
The Jews of Brest received a Charter of Privileges on 1 July 1388. Grodno
obtained the same in 1389. These charters represent the earliest documentation
of organized Jewish communities in the region. "The preamble to the charter
reads as follows: "In the name of God, Amen. All deeds of men, when they
are not made known by the testimony of witnesses or in writing, pass away
and vanish and are forgotten. Therefore, we, Alexander, also called Witold,
by the grace of God Grand Duke of Lithuania and ruler of Brest, Dorogicz,
Lusk, Vladimir, and other places, made known by this charter to the present
and future generations, or to whomever it may concern to know or hear of
it, that, after due deliberation with our nobles we have decided to grant
to all the Jews living in our domains the rights and liberties mentioned
in the following charter." [The Jewish Encyclopedia. NY: Funk and Wagnalls,
1916, Vol. VIII, p. 120.] The charter contains thirty-seven sections concerning
all aspects of legal, business, and social relationships between Jews and
Christians and proscribed punishments for its violation. This document
closely resembles those granted by Casimir the Great and Boleslaw of Kalisz
to the Jews of Poland, based on the charters of Henry of Glogau (1251_,
King Ottokar of Bohemia (1254-1267), and Frederick II (1244), and the Bishop
of Speyer (10 84). These charters grant privileges to a Jewish populace
largely engaged in money lending. The Grodno Charters of 18 June 1389 and
1408 grant privileges to a community engaged in a variety of occupations
including handicrafts and agriculture in the town that was the residence
of the ruling Grand Duke.

The 1389 document reflects that Jews had lived there for many
years, owned land, a synagogue and a cemetery near the Jewish quarter and
lived in social and economic parity with Christians. The Jews belonged
to the freemen class equal to lesser nobles ["shlyakhta"], boyars, and
other free citizens. The starosta (official representatives of the Grand
Duke) was called the Jewish Judge and decided all civil and criminal cases
between Christians and Jews. Jews had complete autonomy over religious
matters. The Jewish communities thrived under this system. Each community
had a Jewish elder [title after the sixteenth century] as its head who
represented the community in all external relations and in tax matters.
Under the regime of the Jagellons, Jews became tax-farmers. Between 1463
and 1478, Casimir granted to Levin Schalomich certain lands in the vovoidship
of Brest together with the peasants living on them.

In 1486, Bryansk custom duties were leased to Mordecai Gadjewich
and Perka Judinovich, residents of Kiev. In 1487 Brest, Drohycin, Byelsk,
and Grodno customs duties were leased to Astashka Hyich, Onotani Ilyich,
and Olkan, all Jews from Lutsk. In 1488 some taxes of Grodno were released
to Jatzkovich and his sons. In 1489, custom duties of Vladimir, Peremyshl,
and Litovishk were leased to the Jews of Brest and Hrubieszow. According
to the historian Jaroszewic in "Obraz Litwy", Lithuanian Jews of that time
developed the country's commerce, even with business ventures reaching
the Baltic Sea and export trade to Prussia. When Alexander Jagellon succeeded
to the throne, he confirmed the Charter of Privileges. Four Jewish tax-farmers
of Brest continued to lease the customs of Brest, Drohoczyn, Grodno and
Byelsk affirmed on 14 October 1494. However, in 1495, Alexander expelled
all the Jews from the country either because of personal animosity from
Alexander Jagellon or his wife Grand Duchess Helena (daughter of Ivan III
of Russia), or due to influences of the Spanish Inquisition, or because
of Judaizing heresies. At this time, Jews who converted to Christianity
automatically attained noble status. Property of the expelled Jews was
allotted to various cronies of the Grand Duke. A nobleman named Semashkowich
received the properties abandoned by the Jews of Grodno. On 4 October 1495,
the estates of the Enkovich brothers of Brest were given to Alexander's
secretary. On 27 January 1497, the estate Kornitza belonging to the Jew
Levon Shalomich was given to the magistrate of Brest-Litovsk.

This property distribution continued until mid 1501 when Alexander
assumed the throne of Poland. At this time, the Jews were allowed to return
to Lithuania and their properties and possessions were to be returned to
them. Prince Alexander Juryevich, vice-regent of Vilna and Grodno, was
to oversee the restoration of property and settlement of debts owed to
them; however, they were required to repurchase their former property,
pay for all improvements and mortgages, and equip annually a 1,000 horse
cavalry regiment at their own expense. Sigismund I (1506-1548) improved
conditions for Jews. In 1508 when Prince Glinski rebelled, two Jews of
Brest, Itzko and Berek, furnished him with information. The leading Jew
of the country, Michael Jesofovich excommunicated them publicly, prompting
eventually an improved tax collection system that he oversaw for
Sigismund as prefect over all Lithuanian Jews [1514].

The communities of Brest and Grodno flourished along with Troki,
Pinsk, Ostrog , Lutsk, and Tykotzin. According to new statutes of 1529,
the life of a Jew was valued at 100 kop groschen as was that of a
nobleman while burghers were only valued at 12 kop groschen. Apparently,
the Jewish tax-farmers overstepped their legal authority leading to a Brest
Jew named Goshko Kozhchich being fined 20-kop groshen for illegally imprisoning
the nobleman Lyshinski. Relationships between Jew and Christian were cordial,
with shared participation in dining, athletics, and festivals. Around 1539
a baptized Jew spread rumors about converts to Judaism harbored in the
Jewish community. Sigismund ended the harassment of Jews in 1540 when he
declared them free of any suspicion. His wife Bona Sporza settled a quarrel
between the Grodno Jewish community and one of its powerful families (Judah
Yudicki) over the appointment of a rabbi named Mordechai [ben Moses Jaffe,
rabbi of Cracow?], son-in-law of Judah Bogdanovich. (Another man, Mordechai
ben Abraham Jaffee was rabbi of Grodno in 1572. See below)

In 1544, Sigismund II, August became Grand Duke of Lithuania
and Polish king in 1548. He treated Jews and Lutherans/Calvinists with
liberality. At that time, the rabbi of Brest, Mendel Frank, was called
"the king's officer" while prominent Jews were called "Pany" or sirs. Until
1569 with the union with Lublin, Lithuanian Jews lived on grand ducal lands
and enjoyed his protection. After the mid-1500's, relationships between
the minor nobility and the Jews deteriorated. The prevalence of mixed marriages
disturbed the clergy. The shlyakhta resented Jews as middlemen in agricultural
dealings, the Jewish exemption from military service, and the wealth/power
of the Jewish tax- farmers. Living on the protected lands of the king,
Jews avoided some of the conflict with the resentful nobility. However,
in 1555, the nobility began to attain more power. A blood libel controversy
arose in 1564 but was squelched by Sigismund August in a declaration of
9 August 1564.

In 1566, however, the nobility finally attained power. They
were allowed to participate in the national legislature and produced the
repressive Act of 1566. That act stated: "The Jews shall not wear costly
clothing, nor gold chains, nor shall their wives wear gold or silver ornaments.
"The Jews shall no have silver mountings on their sabers and daggers; they
shall be distinguished by characteristic clothes; they shall wear yellow
caps, and their wives kerchiefs of yellow linen, in order that all may
be enabled to distinguish Jews from Christians." [p. 126] About twenty
years later, however, the nobility withdrew these restrictions. Stephen
Bathori from Transylvania attained the throne about [1570?] via an election
and confirmed the privilege. Mordechai Jaffe, author of Lebushim" went
to Grodno, built the large synagogue with an ark inscription showing the
building was completed in 1578. He was active in the Council of Four Lands
and developed methodical study of rabbinical literature. During the reign
of Sigismund III (1587-1632), Saul Judich, representative of the Jews of
Brest in 1593 addressed the commercial rivalry between the Jews and the
burghers encouraged that decrees of Sigimund III that declared inviolable
Jewish autonomy in religious and judicial matters. The illegal assumption
of magistrates of Brest over kalah or royal matters was stopped. Saul Judich
was a prominent tax-farmer and "servant of the king" who is first mentioned
in a decree of 1580 as defending, with other community leaders, the rights
of Brest Jews against Christian merchants. He was a favorite of Prince
Radziwil, a Calvinist. This same privilege was then extended to the Jews
of Vilna in a charter permitting Jews to purchase real estate, engage in
trade equally with Christians, to occupy houses belonging to nobility,
and to build synagogues. They were exempt from city taxes as tenants of
nobility and subject to the king's vovoidship jurisdiction rather than
that of local magistrates. Sigismund also demonstrated negative attitudes
toward Jews when he provided for the elevation of Jewish converts to Christianity
to noble status, leading to what was called "Jerusalem nobles."
That law was repealed in 1768.

As Jesuits gained power in Lithuania, the Jews of Grodno faced
increasing restrictions until the reign of Ladislaus IV (1632-1648.) No
fan of the Jesuits, he confirmed the Charters of Privileges of the Jews
of Lithuania on 11 March and 16 Mar 1633. For all his good intentions,
Ladislaus was unable to enforce his will. After 1648, the Cossach uprisings
effectively mark the end of Jewish economic security in Lithuania. By May
1676, King John Sobieski received numerous complaints from the Jews of
Brest led by their rabbi, Mark Benjaschewitsch who received jurisdiction
over criminal cases involving Jews in his community and the power to impose
corporal punishment and the death penalty. The Lithuanian Council [Jews
were taxed as a single body, pro rata agreements made among their representatives
meeting frequently at Brest- Litovsk, Vilna, Pinsk, and Grodno] brought
some order to chaotic conditions faced by the Lithuanian Jews. Yet, the
kahals were insolvent by mid-1700. References to the yeshiva at Brest are
found in the writings of Solomon Luria (d. 1589), Moses Isserles (d. 1572),
and David Gans (d.1589).

On December 14, 1795, Slonimskaya Guberniya was formed
consisting of eight uezds: Slonimski, Grodnenski, Brestski, Kobrinski,
Pruzhanski, Volkovyski, Novogrudski, and Lidszki. In a year, Slonimskaya
and Vilanskaya guberniyii were united in one and were given the common
name: Litovskaya Guberniya. After this, in five years, Slonimskaya Guberniya
was separated again and was named Grodnenskaya Guberniya. The decree about
the foundation of a new Guberniya in Lithuania came after the 9th of September,
1801 and was carried out in the course of the next year, 1802. The Guberniya
stayed in such condition for the next forty years. In 1843, to the previous
Guberniya, Belostokskaya Guberniya was added. This new province was acquired
by Russia according to the Tilsit Agreement of 1807 and consisted of four
uezd: Belostokski, Sokolski, Belski, and Dragichinski. Belski and Dragichinski
were united into one; Lidski uezd became part of Vilenskaya Guberniya.
Novogrudski uezd became a part of Minskaya Guberniya. Thus, Grodnenskaya
Guberniya consisted of nine uezds: Grodnenski, Sokolski, Belostokski, Belski,
Brestki, Kobrinski, Pruzhanski, Slonimski, and Volkovyski. Grodnenskaya
Guberniya covered 704.5 square miles, the "smallest" Guberniya in, larger
only than Russian provinces of Moskovskaya, Tulskaya, Kaluzhkaya, and Yaroslavskaya
(if not considering provinces in Poland, Finland, and Ostzeiskaya). Compared
to the countries of Western Europe, the Guberniya had almost the same territory
as Switzerland, larger than Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands although
it yielded in population. There were 1,842 men per sq. mile in the territory
and 37 men in one sq. verst (wiorst). As a result, Grodnenskaya was average
among the other Russian gubernii. For example, Podolskaya, Poltavskaya,
and Kurskaya gubernii, as well as the provinces of Poland and others, exceeded
Grodnenskaya in population density by 1.5 times, Western European countries
(France and Austria) by two times, Germany by 2.5 times, Italy by 3 times,
and England by 3.5 times.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT TOWNS OF THOSE DAYS (IN BELARUS)

Towns are somtimes called "books made of stone" with streets being its
pages. Indeed, old buildings can tell us a lot about the past, carrying
us many decades back to early days. Sadly enough, such buildings are few.
The majority of old town buildings were made of wood and when fire occurred
it destroyed almost everything. However, the economically better developed
residences of rich magnates were composed of stone-made castles, palaces,
churches and monasteries which have stood till [sic[ today. Nearly all
factories, workshops, warehouses and stores wre concentrated in Belarusian
regional and sometimes district centres.
The most common industries in them were soap, brick, paper, tobacco
and matches manufacture. Timber processing, textile production and tanning
were also popular. Dozens of people were involved in some of these productions.
The most highly developed towns were becoming not only administrative but
cultural centres. All public life in the towns was concentrated around
churches and in market squares. Those were the places where all major administrative
buildings -- the Governors' houses, govenment offices and shops were located.
Some towns (Magileu, Vitsebsk, Grodna, Nyasvizh), once they wre granted
the Mageburg Right, would build a City Hall where the Magistrate sat.

Market squares were usually lined with rows of shops -- protypes of
contemporary department stores. They were built as a complete rectanle
(Brest) or as an elongated structure, or as several buildings (Navagrudak,
Babruisk, Pinsk). in some places (Nyasvizh, Vaukavsyk) the shopping rows
formed the Cyrllic letter [like the math sign for pi]. Inside the buildings
were small rooms used as multi-purpose shops. To link the rows there were
arcades or colonnades (Brest, Navagrudak, kobryn). As fires destoyed big
parts of wooden towns, their centres were gradually filled with stone or
brick houses. Streets were laid with cobble stone, had sidewalks of wooden
boards or even, in some towns, of brick. In the eveing, they were lit with
gas lamps. Living in the new buildings were wealthy industrial tychoons
[sic], traders and white collar workers. The architecture of the houses
was either modern or pseudostyle. Many houses were plastered, their facades
being decorated with beautiful stucco-work. Other buildings stayed unplastered
but had intricate brick- or stone-work, specific architectural forms and
details. Basically, these were profit-making enterprises, with ground floors
occupied by various shops which had numerous colourful sign-boards. Upper
floors were used as residence or were rented by private businesses. Streets
in the centre of a town were more busy than in other parts. There would
be a threatre and a cinematograph where the first mute films would be shown.
in Minsk these cinemas were called Arts Theatre, New Illusion. In Ragachou--Modern.
in Babruisk--Gigant, All the World, Eden, etc. The townsfolk would spend
their free times in parks, gardens, and on river banks. A city part would
normally have a wooden stage from which an orchestra would play and actors
would perform. in winter there would be a skating rink. Some towns had
sports grounds and cycling tracks. In Minsk, the cycling track was situated
in the Governor's Park (today the Central Children's Park). There was a
big cycling track in Gomel which was then located in Maximov Park which
now has turned into the Gomselmas factory stadium. Vitsebsk had a yachting
club. One would not imagine a town of those days without a cathedral, a
church, a mosque or a synagogue which would wonderfully match the town's
architecture. Together with the City Hall, the fire and water towers, they
created a unique charateristique [sic] silhouette of every town.

The streets of old-time towns were normally straight (Polatsk, Ragachou,
Asipovichy, etc.). However, certain town (Mazyr, Navagrudak, Slonim) were
located on hilly terrain or along rivers, so the streets in them were not
symmetrically straight. Streets in towns would normally originate in the
centre, around market places, cathedrals and churches and gradually flow
into main roads or highways. Such streets were given the names of towns
or cities to which those highways took you. St Petersburg Street in Orsha
and other towns, Smalensk and Surazh Streets in Vitsebsk, Brest Street
in vaukavysk and Pinsk, Vilenskaya Streets in Minsk and Lida. The names
of streets of those days would obviously reflect the then popular Merchants
Streets, in Minsk--Governor and Asylum Streets, in Brest -- Police Street,
in Pinsk, -- Prison Street, in Bobruisk -- Muraviev and Stolupin Streets.
Horse-drawn transport was the most popular one at the time. From early
morning till [sic] late at night the streets were filled with the rattle
of wooden, iron-bound wheels of coaches and village carts that flooded
towns. In winter wheels would be replaced with a sledge and the sweet ding-dong
of the bells fixed to the harness could be heard from afar.

In 1892 the first street-car appeared in the streets of Minsk. It was
a small carriage drawn by two or, on hilly streets, by three horses. In
1898 Belarus' first electric tramway began to run the streets of Vitsebsk.
This was also one of the first trams to come into being in the entire Russian
Empire. In the early 20th century the bicycle was becoming common in city
ctreets and presently cars appeared. The outskirts of old-time towns looked
like village streets. They were lined with wooden houses surrounded by
a fence. As a general rule, the streets were not cobbled, had no pavements
and were not light at night. In spring and autumn they were so muddy that
crossing them was a problem. Poverty reigned there. Some old towns were
surrounded by boroughs and settlements. There was a Trans-Nieman borough
in Grodna, Berezina and minsk boroughs in Babruisk. Minsk had a Tatar settlement
and Grodna--the Alexander settlement. In Barysau and other towns such places
were simply called settlements and were populated by people who moved to
live here from other parts of the country or abroad. Boroughs often had
the names of villages that were joined with towns. in Minsk this was the
case with Kamarouka and Luakhauka. There were extraordinary, off-hand names,
though. In Gomel of the early 20th century there were boroughs called American
Caucasus, Whistle. ... Towns of Belarus on old-time Postcards, Viachka
Tselesh, Minsk Belarus, 1998.pages 12-17.

From Belarus, A Story of Change, ISBN 985-09-0315-5

page 10: Belarus is "...in the basin of the upper reaches of
the Dnieper and the Neman and the middle part of the Zapadnaya Dvina and
the Western Boog (right bank), middle and low parts of the Pripyat [river].
... Belarus is also often called the land of lakes. Most of thelakes are
scattered in the North of the Republic in the Belarussian Poozerye (lake
district) and in the southern provinces which make part of the Belarussian
Polessye (forest district). There are places where 10 percent of the surface
is under lakes. This is true of the Ushaci and Braslav districts of Vitebsk
region. Most of the lakes there are small but very deep, as a rule. They
are permanently replenished by spring waters which is why the water in
them is crystal-clear.

Page11: "...and the Neman valley, near Grodno, being the lowerst place...28
species of trees and 80 species of shrubs grow here. In addition to traditional
trees, such as pine, spruce, birch, oak, maple, asp, hornbeam, alder and
others, "foreigners" like Siberian and European larch, northern oak, Armour
velvet and Manchrian nut ... coniferous forests are most widely spread
in Belarus. national parks, the biggest and most widely known being the
Belovzhskaya [page 14:] Pushca national park..."

page 26: "In the 6th-8th centuries, the tribes of Krivichi, Dregovichi,
Rodimichi and Yatviagi, the latter speaking Baltic languages, were formed
on the territories. These were independent states. ...In the 10th century,
a large proportion of Belarussian lands made part of the Kiev Russ."

page 28: "In the late 11th-early 12th centuries, the Kiev Russ ceased
to exist as a single state and split into several independent but economically
and culturally linked lands. With the fall of the Russian Empire, the first
prerequisites of the birth of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarussian nations
appeared. It took two centuries to overcome the feudal fragmentation and
to unite the separated lands into one powerful state. Eventually, the Great
Lithuanian Principality was established around the Novogorodok Province
and Lithuanian territories. The establishment of a prinicipality
around Novogrodok (at present Novogrudok, Grodno provice) enabled the two
nations to retain their independence and provide a worthy resistance to
the Mongol-Tatar raids and the German expansionist claims. ... In 1569,
the Great Lithuanian Principality and the Kingdom of Poland signed the
Lublino Treaty to become a single federal state -- Rzeczpospolita. The
Great Principality of Lithuania kept its own bodies of state administration,
its legislation, the state language, the finanacial system, and the army.
The supreme power in the Rzeczpospolita belonged to the Polish landlords.
The alliance managed to survive for over two hundred years, beating back
constant attacks from the east, west, and north....As a result of the three
splits (1772, 1793, 1795), the Rzeczpospolita ceased to exist and the territories
of Belarus went into the possession of the Russian Empire.

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